A possible topic for a high school level unit plan is cell growth and development. While this unit may seem very broad in scope, it can include subtopics such as animal cell anatomy, plant cell anatomy, prokaryotic versus eukaryotic cell function, cell division, and embryonic development. These topics are relevant for students to learn because cells are the individual building blocks of the human body as well as of every other living organism on the planet. This unit is the first way for students to learn and understand how humans function in both a biological and anthropological context, as well as how other organisms function as members of their ecosystems. Therefore, this unit provides essential background information necessary to study other topics in the high school biology curriculum.
This unit presents the opportunity to conduct a wealth of activities, labs, and projects that will engage my students. An example of an activity that could be done in class is a kinesthetic simulation of cell endocytosis and exocytosis where students hold hands in a large circle to form a cell membrane with other students inside the “cell” representing various organelles. An example of a lab that could be done is an examination of cells under a microscope to determine in which stage of mitosis or meiosis the cell was in when the sample was stained. An example of a project that could be done outside of class is a way in which to represent the different stages of mitosis, giving students the option of how to derive this representation, i.e. a booklet, baking a cake, a short video, etc.
A possible topic for a high school level unit plan is cell growth and development. While this unit may seem very broad in scope, it can include subtopics such as animal cell anatomy, plant cell anatomy, prokaryotic versus eukaryotic cell function, cell division, and embryonic development. These topics are relevant for students to learn because cells are the individual building blocks of the human body as well as of every other living organism on the planet. This unit is the first way for students to learn and understand how humans function in both a biological and anthropological context, as well as how other organisms function as members of their ecosystems. Therefore, this unit provides essential background information necessary to study other topics in the high school biology curriculum.
This unit presents the opportunity to conduct a wealth of activities, labs, and projects that will engage my students. An example of an activity that could be done in class is a kinesthetic simulation of cell endocytosis and exocytosis where students hold hands in a large circle to form a cell membrane with other students inside the “cell” representing various organelles. An example of a lab that could be done is an examination of cells under a microscope to determine in which stage of mitosis or meiosis the cell was in when the sample was stained. An example of a project that could be done outside of class is a way in which to represent the different stages of mitosis, giving students the option of how to derive this representation, i.e. a booklet, baking a cake, a short video, etc.